great way to escape into nature when in the great city of Ann Arbor. There's always a decent number of people in there. Always better to leave the Arb before it gets completely dark, but otherwise VERY safe.

Scio Forest is a very pretty little woods. The trails are generally nicely maintained, although brush is encroaching the trail several places. It is a relatively wet woods and has lots of mosquitoes, bring your bug spray. Much of the trail is reasonably quiet, with very little noise from Scio Church road; the frogs can kick up quite a racket in the evening. My most recent pics are geo-tagged on my 6/1/18 track.

It was great! Beautiful sites, and alot of yelling at the people in kayak’s. As you walk there’s different fields and a lot of trails that’ll have you lost. I was trying to find the way to my car for like 30 minutes with 3 people. But we were taking every turn we saw. You should go!

It rained a little overnight and spring is just arriving - the trails were soft many places, very soft in some places, especially through the stands of trees. Heard lots of frogs, heard but didn't see geese, saw a number of deer tracks but no deer (but it was mid-afternoon). The pussy willow on the NW part of E and WNW from where E connects to D are starting to bloom. Looking forward to coming back when the meadows have turned green and the ground has firmed a bit. The Preserve is off a couple back roads, amongst farms, so traffic noise is minimal.

Johnson Preserve is a beautiful little woods. It tends to be a bit wet well into the summer, but has boardwalks over the wettest parts. The trail connects to the Lillie Park South Loop trail system, which is how I get to Johnson Preserve. The Preserve and Lillie Park South are a beautiful combination.

The Matthaei Garden Trail is a 2-mile pedestrian road through a lightly wooded area. The path was built in 2017, I believe, and is 6-foot or 8-foot wide asphalt the entire way, with several wooden bridges over tiny streams. Parking at Matthaei and walking the entire thing is a 4-mile trip. My low rating is because I'm not a fan of asphalt or flat paths, especially given the other trails available at Matthaei. If you like asphalt paths through trees, you'll probably enjoy this one. If you want to check your GPS, they have markers every 1/4 mile.

Scio Forest is a very nice little woods. While the red loop passes fairly close to houses for much of the trail, they will probably become unnoticeable as the woods greens in the spring. I saw a group of 5-6 deer two different times, although it might have been two distinct groups. There are a few short bridges/boardwalks over small streams. The trails are much younger than many parks and, given the number of places they had puddles or ice patches, I suspect they will be somewhat muddy as the spring thaw comes. I look forward to returning regularly to this short walk in the woods.

Nice trail with a bit of elevation change - hard to come by in this part of the state. You can hear the freeway from parts of the trail so minus one for that. The extended path across the river is beautiful.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens has over 5 miles of trails to enjoy. This is not so much a hike in the woods as it is wondering along Fleming Creek and some stands of trees. The trails follow the creek closely on both sides along with offering paths farther afield. The trails are generally very wide and grassy, with a few muddy spots. There are several bridges. There are a few boardwalks through swampy areas. The trails are open only to foot traffic. There are many, or very many, benches throughout to stop to enjoy a nice view. It is far enough from major roads that it can be quiet. I saw only two other hikers, each on the path on the opposite side of the creek from me, but I went on a Friday morning with a high temp of 28 degrees F. Judging from the amount of deer fencing they have around young trees and the 4 deer I saw, there are plenty of deer to be seen.

There are very nice views of the fall color of Bird Hills from the Barton Nature area trails. The Barton Nature part of my track also includes an out-and-back along the river - it offers occasional, very nice, views right on the water, but it is about 500" each way of very narrow trail, almost just a deer track. Along the way there is a party clearing around a large tree with some stella. I'll probably stick to the primary paths next time.
Kuebler is very pretty and warrants more than just the cruise through I gave it - would be worth it to loop back on other paths and wind through the whole area.
Bird Hills is beautiful. It was fairly busy. The trails are nice, although there are lots of intersections with no guidance on where each path goes (but it would be hard to actually get lost here). Has a nice amount of up and down as well, with occasional glimpses of the river from some paths.

This is a walk along mostly paved/packed gravel paths, with some board walks thrown in. It is not really a hIke - it is walk through some trees and scrub growth by a river. At the west end there are places where you can take dirt paths rather than the paved/gravel path. As long as you stay on the main path, this is probably wheel chair accessible and does offer some view of the river. Not my cup of tea.

Not so much "trail" as hard gravel path through some trees. The main path is crushed limestone; there are some small dirt tracks off the path at a few places, but none are particularly interesting. If you live in the neighborhood, it is probably a better place to jog than your local sidewalk, but if you're getting in a car, the only reason to come here (instead of Lillie Park, the Arb, or Bird Hills) is if you don't want to be alone or in a woods. Britton Woods is much nicer than the Fitness Loop, but is tiny.